Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn?

[Jaxom]

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn?

 

I won't pretend to be an expert on this, but I did work on radio and navigation equipment in the US Navy and I do know that the particle densities of space should have no effect on scans BUT plasma and other highly ionized areas might, depending on the type of scanner, part of EM Spectrem used, equipment timing and redundency and harding of the equipment.

 

Cancer and I met in an Astronomy Graduate program ... All the interesting features that I can think of that would good for hiding in are huge to the extent that you just eliminate that form of detection for some encounters... Ionization nebulae, molecular clouds, etc.

 

There are, of course, other options but you'd have to think about how your detection worked... Drifting with asteroids is a great example. Particle densities in comet paths and such should not really be all that meaningful unless you have some really bizarre forms of detection.

 

If you could see the bad guy before he could see you' date=' you could launch your nukes first and blow him up.[/quote']

 

This is why I would steer clear of this setup... It's basically the same as giving someone the power "kill one target per turn". Either the players fear him (and with good reason) or they don't care because you would never let them die. In either case it becomes a kinda meaningless situation. OTOH, from the grognard perspective it could be a fun table-top tactical sim.

 

 

The purpose behind what I was proposing on the last page is to provide a scale and system that allows the players to get engaged and feel like their actions matter which can be hard or impossible if you try for realistic craft (e.g. the Apollo Lunar Lander is essentially built of tin foil)...

[Nyrath]

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn?

 

If you could see the bad guy before he could see you' date=' you could launch your nukes first and blow him up. Basically, submarine warfare in space.[/quote']

Yes, it's like hide-and-go-seek with bazookas.

 

If you want the flavor of this, try to dig up a copy of Passage At Arms by Glen Cook. It reads like "Das Boot" in deep space. Very entertaining.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn?

 

Maybe there's some way to disable a ship without destroying it, so you could move in with a boarding party and capture information, an individual, or prototype machinery. It would still be a matter of submarine warfare to launch the disabling attack, but afterward gets pretty game-able.

 

I was originally thinking of some missile that homes in on the target ship's drive, but that would still leave weapon systems on line, and would allow a counter-attack.

 

Something else I just thought of: Given the extreme ranges and the apparent ease of detecting active drives of any reasonably hard nature, wouldn't a Phalanx-type anti-missile system essentially take away even the submarine-style space battle paradigm?

[LoresLost]

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn?

 

Something else I just thought of: Given the extreme ranges and the apparent ease of detecting active drives of any reasonably hard nature' date=' wouldn't a Phalanx-type anti-missile system essentially take away even the submarine-style space battle paradigm?[/quote']

 

That is the reason I think the modren surface fleet is a better model for space combat. They only need detect an enemy ship and fire the Anti ship missile. The oppent would have various point defense systems (anti missile missile and then automatic chain guns in modern surface warfare, point defense lasers in space warfare) This becomes a game of over whelming the defenses.

 

Modern naval warfare has pretty much given up on boarding enemy vessels in a full engagement. The last successful navel boarding during war was in the second world war when a US pocket carrier sent boarders to a German U-Boat who's skipper did not have time to scuttle it.

 

Now if your SciFi Universe had a weapon like the Ion Cannons from StarWars that disable a ship to allow boarding. But if Ion cannons worked on war ships then hidding is not going to be very effective because the best places to hide in space are highly ionized areas which would risk shutting down your ship in a very risky area of space and killing your crew. Ships would be very hard against EMP weapons just due to the hard radiation you can encounter in space so they would not be as effective in shutting down an enemy ship.

 

The more I think about 'realistic' space combat the more I would prefer to play in a space opera setting if combat is regular feature of the game. Consistance rules where a person can lose and still live is good for an RPG.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn?

 

Yes, much depends on the assumptions you make about weapons strength vs defenses strengths. There are many historical precedents for situations where things were unbalanced in one way or the other -- either heavily favoring offense or heavily favoring defense -- and I imagine we could postulate future tech that goes either way. But for gaming, it's good to have a balance IMO.

 

The more I think about 'realistic' space combat the more I would prefer to play in a space opera setting if combat is regular feature of the game. Consistance rules where a person can lose and still live is good for an RPG.

As with any other RPG genre, realism is a fine thing...taken in moderation.

 

 

bigdamnhero

“Well… here I am...â€